The present invention relates to a knitting member guide mechanism. More particularly, the present invention relates to a guide mechanism for guiding second knitting members, which are accommodated in accommodation grooves formed in first knitting members so as to be movable relative to the first knitting members, by means of the first knitting members which are accommodated in a number of knitting member accommodation grooves formed in side-by-side relation in accommodation beds so as to be freely advanced and retracted with respect to a needle bed gap, and to a compound needle incorporating the same mechanism therein.
The knitting members referred to in the specification include a knitting needle, a sinker, a transfer jack, a selector, a select jack, a yarn guide, a loop presser and components thereof mounted on accommodation beds, such as a needle bed, a sinker bed and a transfer jack bed, of a knitting machine for knitting a fabric. In the following, reference will be given to the guide mechanism of a knitting needle, taking a compound needle, in particular, as an example of the knitting member. It is added, however, that the knitting members are not limited to the compound needle.
The applicant of this application previously proposed a compound needle described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Unexamined) No. Hei 3 (1991)-119160. This relates to a compound needle comprising a needle body having a needle hook at a front end thereof and a slider having a tongue at a front end thereof and accommodated in a slider groove formed in the needle body so as to freely advance and retract therealong. In this compound needle, a guide surface, formed on the bottom of the slider groove, to contact with a forefront portion of the slider is formed as a cam surface via which the slider, when advanced with respect to the needle body, is raised to bring the tongue into abutment with the needle hook, and a slider floatation restrainer (guide mechanism) is provided on the needle body side via which the slider, when retracted, is lowered to return the tongue of the slider to its original retracted position in the slider groove, whereby a front end portion of the slider is held in sandwich relation between the slider floatation restrainer and the cam surface, so as to allow the slider to be guided by the needle body.
In this compound needle, it is necessary that the slider floatation restrainer serving to guide the slider is disposed right above the slider groove on the needle body side. For this reason, when the slider groove is formed by a cutting process, an appropriate working method must be taken to prevent the slider floatation restrainer from being cut. On the other hand, without recourse to the cutting process, it would be necessary that a cam piece and the like is fixedly mounted on that part, then leading to increased number of processes for producing the components and thus increased production costs.
The provision of the guide mechanism permits the yarn fed to the needle hook to be prevented from being caught on the tongue, and as such can allow the yarn to be surely captured by the needle hook. This behavior of the tongue permits the lowering of a throat part of the needle body, and as such can provide reduced frictional resistance against a loop held on the needle when the needle is advanced and retracted and thus provide reduced load on the knitting yarn.
The applicant of this application also proposed a compound needle described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Unexamined) No. Hei 11 (1999)-152664. This relates to a so-called slide needle or a compound needle of the type that the slider comprises two thin plate blades having tongues at front ends thereof, the blades are accommodated in an overlapped relation in a blade groove formed in the needle body, so that when the needle body and the slider are moved relative to each other, a needle hook are opened and closed by the tongues, and further the tongues are permitted to advance beyond the needle hook to perform transference of a loop.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a knitting member guide mechanism for guiding a second knitting member, which is accommodated in an accommodation groove formed in first knitting member and is constructed to be movable relative to first knitting members, by means of the first knitting member, by a simpler process and with high reliability. The relation between the first knitting member and the second knitting member is, for example, just like the relation between the needle body and the slider, as noted above.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compound needle incorporating this knitting member guide mechanism therein. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a slider guide mechanism of a compound needle of the type that the slider of the compound needle comprises two thin plate blades and these two blades are fitted in an overlapped relation in an accommodation groove formed in the needle body. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a compound needle that presents improved yarn feed conditions.
The present invention provides a knitting member guide mechanism comprising a first knitting member, such as a knitting needle, which is accommodated in each of a number of knitting member accommodation grooves arranged side by side on an accommodation bed, so as to be freely advanced toward and retracted from a needle bed gap, and a second knitting member which is accommodated in an accommodation groove formed in the first knitting member to extend longitudinally of the first knitting member, so as to be movable relative to the first knitting member,
wherein the first knitting member has a fork portion extending forwardly formed in an upper portion of at least one of side walls of the first knitting member at an accommodation groove forming portion thereof where the accommodation groove for accommodating the second knitting member is formed, while also the second knitting members has a guiding portion formed to be curved outwardly so that its upper surface can confront a lower surface of the fork portion formed on the at least one side wall of the first knitting member, so that while the second knitting member is moved relative to the first knitting member, the guiding portion of the second knitting member is guided into a space formed under the fork portion of the first knitting member and supported by the fork portion during at least part of the relative movement.
Preferably, the lower surface of the fork portion is formed as a slanted cam surface declining rearwardly, so that when the second knitting member is retracted with respect to the first knitting member in the relative movement therebetween, the upper surface of the second knitting member is brought into abutment with the cam surface to lower the second knitting member.
In general, the upper surfaces of the second knitting member accommodated in the accommodation groove of the first knitting member are free from the intersection with the upper surfaces of the side walls of the first knitting member in an accommodation groove forming portion thereof in the course of relative movement therebetween and, therefore, the second knitting member cannot be vertically guided by that portion of the first knitting member. On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the first knitting member has the fork portion extending forwardly formed in the upper portion of at least one of the side walls of the first knitting member, while also the second knitting member has the guiding portion formed to be curved outwardly so that its upper surface can confront the lower surface of the fork portion formed on the at least one side wall of the first knitting member, the curved portion of the second knitting member is allowed to overlap with the lower surface of the first knitting member in the space under the fork portion of the first knitting member and thus the vertical position of the second knitting member is controlled to a specified position.
The present invention provides a compound needle whose knitting members comprise a first knitting member and a second knitting member which are in the form of a needle body having a hook at its front end and a slider having tongues at its front end, respectively, wherein an accommodation groove formed in the needle body has depth to accommodate the tongue therein when the slider is in its retracted position and raise and displace the tongue toward the hook when the slider is advanced, and wherein the needle body forming therein the accommodation groove has a guide surface formed on a lower surface of a fork portion provided in at least one of side walls of the needle body, while on the other hand, the slider is provided, on its upper surface, with a guiding portion which is formed to be curved outwardly so as to confront the guide surface of the fork portion, so that when the slider is retracted, the upper surface of the guiding portion of the slider is brought into engagement with the guide surface formed in the fork portion to guide the slider back to its retracted position.
Preferably, the slider comprises blades comprising two thin plates having tongues at their front ends, the blades are accommodated in the accommodation groove of the needle body, the fork portion is formed in each of the side walls of the needle body forming therein the accommodation groove, and the blades are formed to be curved toward the side walls of the needle body on the side on which the blades are slidably contactable with the side walls of the needle body, respectively, so that upper surfaces of the blades confront their respective lower surfaces of the fork portions.
The blades are connected to the slider body supported on the needle body at top portions thereof.
Preferably, the blades are connected to the slider body in such a manner that front end portions of the tongues are biased downwardly in the state in which the blades are accommodated in the accommodation groove of the needle body.
According to the present invention, when the slider is advanced in the movement relative to the needle body, the tongues are raised and displaced to close the hook, while coming near to the hook. On the other hand, when the slider is retracted, since the slider is formed to be curved so that the upper surface of the slider accommodated in the accommodation groove can confront the lower surface of the fork portion extending forward formed on the upper portion of the accommodation groove forming portion of the needle body, the upper surface of the curved portion of the slider is brought into engagement with the lower surface of the fork portion of the needle body and thereby the slider is lowered and returned to its original retracted position.
In the case of the slider comprising blades comprising two thin plates having tongues at front ends thereof, the fork portions are provided in both side walls of the needle body forming therein the accommodation groove and also the blades are formed to be curved so that the upper surfaces of the blades can confront those fork portions. In this case, the guiding portions of the needle body formed to confront each other across the accommodation groove and the right and left guiding portions formed in the slider are brought into engagement with each other and thereby the slider is guided to its vertical positions.
The slider is accommodated in the accommodation groove in the state in which a front end portion thereof on the tongue side is biased downwardly and, thus, the slider is moved back and forth in the state in which the front end portion of the blades are always in abutment with the bottom surface of the groove, unless an external force acts on the slider. If there may happen such an occasion that when the slider is retracted after raised and displaced, fibrous dusts and the like get into the accommodation groove to hinder the backward movement of the blades in the state in which the front end portions of the blades are in abutment with the bottom surface of the groove, since the blades are guided by the guide mechanism to forcibly lower the tongues, the blades can be returned to their original retracted positions.